So we came into existance and eventually spread all over this planet of ours. When, and how, we spread is yet another unresolved question. Some scientists say there were 3 times we spread out beyond Africa, some say just once. We don't yet have the evidence to fully support either of these possibilities.

We may have existed as a separate species for as long as a minute but until just ten thousand years ago, or just 5 seconds ago, we lived as hunters and gatherers. That is, we took what nature gave us in the form of nuts, berries, fruit and animals. Since we were hunters we helped animals to their deaths so that we could eat.

We did not get to this time on our own. There were plenty of other animals around including wolfs, lions, cows and sheep. There were also plant life such as trees, grasses, and rice. The bacteria that was around 2 billions years ago had also evolved and found new types of places to live, one of which is us. Our stomachs are full of bacteria which helps us digest food. There are many different types living on our skin. We probably couldn't continue to live without them.

About 6000 years ago we developed or discovered agriculture. Why, or how, this happened is yet another unresolved question. This may have happened in several places at once: the Golden Crescent, India, and China, or it may have started in one place and spread. The place we know most about is the Golden Crescent, which is in the area of Bagdad in what we know today as Irag. Its this area, and spread of civilisation from here that we will concentrate on, largely because we have more knowledge about it, not because nothing was changing elsewhere. This is the beginning of civilisation.

Agriculture caused groups of people to gather together all year around, since they were depending upon the results of a fixed part of the earth. They were trying to control nature, rather than using what nature offered. This resulted in a separation of responsibilities, a requirement for greater organisation, and thus a need for leadership and decision making. As a consequence a hierachy of control evolved, the person at the top being given a title, often the word 'king' being used.

From the Golden Crescent our story moves to Egypt and the river Nile. This is the land of pyramids, pharohs, and the Sphinx. This civilisation lasted several thousand years. It was based on the agricultural productivity that the river Nile provided. The organisation to keep everyone fed throughout the year resulted in the use of numbers to record produce and measurement of land. The rules, or laws, needed to maintain order resulted in the origin of writing down language. Any large organisation has influence outside of the organisation for both good and bad reasons so the Egyptian civilisation had a wide infulence outside its immediate boundaries.

The influence we perceive as a good influence looking back from now shifted from Egypt to Greece. Greek influence lasted from about 2500 to about 1800 years ago. The Greeks were the first to organise themselves along democratic lines, although their version of democracy was very different to that we enjoy today. It was during the Greek period that mathematics became a subject of importance. The Pythogorean theorem being the most famous. Greek geometric discoveries still have important uses today. Their ideas on scientific thought, philosophy, medicine and mathematics went almost unquestioned until the last 2 or 3 hundred years.

Potential second level topics.

• geographical spreading
• stone age/bronze age
• Neanderthals
• Hunter/gatherers
• Golden Crescent - early days
• grass to wheat domestication
• Egyptian civilisation
• Greek civilisation
• Greek thought - democracy/theatre/philosophy/science/gods

Next page is at A19406603.